Recently, a domestic movie "Leaving on a Boat" with a good reputation was quietly released. About home and distance, this movie expresses it well. It's easy for family-oriented stories to sound the same, but "Away in a Boat" has something a little different about it. While showing real life relatively steadily, adding appropriate thinking and having its own sense of pace are the keys to this film winning praise.
Some settings and images reminded me of "Spring River Plumbing" directed by Gu Xiaogang . For example, the same mother fell ill and died, and even had a similar plot of running away. It can only show some similarities in the situation of traditional Chinese families. Family issues are naturally something that the whole world expresses and cares about, but some images of Eastern families are different from those in other Western countries.
Speaking of Eastern and Western cultures, the film sets up the role of an American husband Ryan . The so-called cultural conflict does not have the impact of a collision like the family film series directed by Ang Lee. Due to Ang Lee's own experience of growing up and studying abroad, he has considerable experience in the integration and collision of Chinese people abroad.
Chen Xiaoyu (writer and director of the film) showed the problems that Americans encounter when entering ordinary Chinese families. This is less about the collision of Chinese and Western cultures, and more about some special effect brought about by connection and binding. The focus is no longer on the collision between similar customs and cultures. But behind the business of studying abroad, it triggers many practical psychological needs of Chinese people, as well as the unfavorable ecological environment behind it.
When looking at the family level, it can be seen that this American husband is relatively weak. Whether it is career or family matters, he has to discuss it with Nian Zhen, played by Liu Dan. Her attitude toward Ryan in her career and her dispute with her brother Nianqing over her mother's medical treatment all illustrate the strength and stubbornness of this female character.
Nian Zhen's son A Tao also inherited his mother's personality. No one can stop what he wants to do. At this stage, he chose to be an extra, and his attitude was very serious. He actually shaved his head to play a monk. There was a scene where the extras were doused with water while they were standing still in a pose. Even after the director told them to stop, he still thought about and practiced the action. For this rare filming opportunity, he did not rush back when his grandmother was dying.
The communication between generations is precisely connected by wooden boats. A Tao was sitting on a boat when filming, and the grandmother who left the world seemed to be leaving on a boat. It not only caters to the theme, but also has a realistic meaning and a poetic and symbolic meaning.
ship is connected to the future, but also from the past. While she was still awake, her mother took out all her life savings and made arrangements for her funeral. The siblings accompanied their mother on a boat ride, and the memories of their uncle from afar reminded their mother of their marriage by boat.
The boat is still connected to his dead father and eldest brother. The father passed on the carpentry skills to his eldest son, but the eldest son died young due to illness. Faced with the current situation, his younger brother Nianqing not only found the boat that his mother used to ride on when she got married, but also retrieved the lost skills. Starting from a small boat, he gradually tried to build a new large boat.
The departure of her eldest brother is a shadow in Nianzhen's heart. When her sister and brother quarreled in the hospital, Nianzhen said that she wanted to take her mother abroad for medical treatment. Nianqing's point of view was to accompany her mother home to spend her last days. Seeing Nianzhen He was very determined, saying that his sister just wanted to use her mother to make up for the shortcomings she felt towards her eldest brother.
Nian Qing is a new generation who is independent and has his own ideas. Single people have no idea of getting married and starting a family. Although they have good friends of the opposite sex around them, neither of them has any intention of getting into love or marriage. In this water town with a traditional imprint, it is naturally an alien in the eyes of others.
And why is my sister Nianzhen not? At the funeral discussion before my mother passed away, the old people and uncles in the village all thought about the same old customs, wanted to practice playing and playing, and even had their own opinions on how to deal with the old house. But Nian Zhen, who had new ideas, obviously refused, and his attitude even angered her uncle, who did not often interact with her. The latter said that she really thought of herself as a Shanghainese, while the old lady in the neighborhood said that she was an American.
However, the final funeral was still in a Western style, with each other patting shoulders as a comfort to the family members. One detail before her mother died was that she knew she was about to die, so she took off the oxygen mask with difficulty, and began to have shortness of breath and difficulty.
Nian Qing, who woke up with him in bed, saw it. The hand holding the oxygen mask hesitated and did not put it on. He seemed to understand his mother's intention, but finally let it go. After all, if he did that, he would be murdering his mother in a sense. In the process of taking off and putting on the mask, both of them experienced psychological tests. The moment the mask was put on, the mother glanced at Nian Qing and understood, but had no strength to express more.
This kind of mental state reminds me of the American movie " One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and the French movie "Wild Rose of Paris" . The endings both end with the person they love not being able to see the person they love continue to live in pain, so they use pillows to hug each other. Cover it to death. This kind of expression at the level of liberation of the dying person is actually similar, but the behavior and expression are different.
Chen Xiaoyu also mentioned it in the director's notes, but he still couldn't help but say through A Tao's mouth, "Now that you have grown up, your parents' home is not your home." Expressions like this add to the film's A different kind of taste. Behind this are some quietly changing world views and outlook on life hidden by the changes of the times, as well as more family difficulties that ordinary people are unwilling to talk about.
It is very common in life to not be able to see your loved ones before you die, especially for those who have left their hometowns. It is often a fate to miss them constantly. But in the hearts of more people like A Tao, that longing itself has some kind of soul connection. The dream-like scenes at the end also want to show this level.
Atao once took the initiative to call his grandmother, but put it down when his mother answered. He also knew the generation gap and estrangement between him and his mother. But the friendship between generations is different. The meaning that grandma once conveyed has been remembered in their hearts, and they will say goodbye in their own way. Perhaps, the farewell that is not waiting for you will not stop countless encounters in future dreams.
